Challenge: staying engaged all day long!

I have a clan of about 16 kids ages 9-12. We are in the woods from 9am-3pm. Since the curriculum is entirely loose (we teach whatever we want when we want) there are a lot of spontaneous teaching moments that keep me on my toes. However, I find that occasionally the energy of the group starts to wain, we curl up near the fire, and I lose focus. There are no breaks for the staff from the kids, which is ok, but getting a little personal down time to recharge is impossible.

What I've found helpful is using the kids to get me motivated. Someone's always got a story, short or long, there's a new tale to share and if I ask, it eventually comes out. With a story comes questions, from me, but even better, from other students. Soon the clan, if I'm lucky, is fully engaged and talking. This stirs up my energy level and then we're off again.

If there's no story I try having the kids quiz me. They love to become teachers and I'm more than happy to learn. It's amazing what a 10 year old knows these days!

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Permalink Reply by Nick on June 10, 2009 at 6:56am: Sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on the situation already, using the spontaneous teaching moments and getting the kids to quiz and teach you. In reading your note what came to mind was one of the core activities in CG the 50:50 principle, keeping half of the available time for wandering/wondering with nothing in particular scheduled for "hard time learning."

Next month I'll be accompanying a group of 8-10 middle-school students and a couple of museum educators on a half-day canoe trip. For them it's one day of a week-long program that aims to teach the kids science while also giving them some memorable adventures. My participation will be limited to the single day of the adventure. My goal on the float trip is to teach them a little animal tracking and introduce some awareness skills. I'll have little or no time to get to know the kids and their passions before the trip. I'm also a bit concerned about how relaxed they will be (or I can get them to be) outdoors, and how best to split time between the relatively short float and some beginning tracking practice. Any hints out there on a way to combine or handle this?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charlie Davis on June 10, 2009 at 8:17am: Nick - I assume this is a river trip and not a flatwater trip?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nick on June 11, 2009 at 6:06am: Yes, it's on a small river with relatively rocky substrate. I'm hoping for muddy spots that would hold tracks easily. We'll only be doing 6 miles of river, but we have 4 or 5 hours to do it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Liz Crain on June 11, 2009 at 2:56am: a lot of games would be good. Reading the individuals in a group is hard in one day. Perhaps having them start with a group challenge so you can pick out the leaders, followers, talkers, observers, etc would be good. (creating this on the water in boats could be fun) Also asking the trip leaders for advice about how the group is engaged most easily. Hopefully the trip staff will have a good handle on the group by then. When you transition to shore, set the intention around tracking with a good story. Make sure it fits the environment they are already experiencing so they relate. Lots of physical movement, searching for tracks on the shore while you begin the tale, keeps them hooked. Once you have them revved up, drop into "discovery" mode. Lots of, "hey, check this out!" and "Whoa, look over here!" If they take the bait, your "hard time learning" should fall right into place.

The 50:50 principal is great. I find that usually happens regardless of planning.
Hope this helped a bit.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nick on June 11, 2009 at 6:11am: Thanks, Liz; this is good advice. You're right I think the trip staff will already have a pretty good handle on them. They will have already been with the kids for 3 or 4 days by the time I get there. I'm hoping at least to meet the kids upon their arrival at the start of the whole program.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charlie Davis on June 11, 2009 at 9:04am: With flowing water it's a bit more challenging to keep the group together. Particularly if most have no canoeing expereince. The challenge of the canoe itself may keep some occupied fully--and this is OK--they are discovering the expereince of moving water. The group will move like a slinky along the river--with the skilled canoists up front who may miss everything along the way and toward the back will be the true explorers and less skilled canoists.

The challenge is managing the front, where some may want to be first. You should be in the front, and the first to leave from stops, if you are directing the activities along the river. If the group gets too spread out along the river the transition time at stops increases. So it would help to do some activities that builds community--for instance making a group map along the way. Scout out the route beforehand via an aerial photo or maybe Google Earth and identify some prominent features to be certian to include on the map or anticipate. Have them discover the feature. Scout out where the best track sites are likely to be--river sides with adjacent erosional landscapes and with tibutary intersections, point bars, wide flat stretches will have more finer particles. Pose some group questions about animal behavior at the beginning to help focus their thinking.

Read David Sobel's Childhood and Nature : Design Principles for Educators you will see that the canoeing activity has parts of all seven of his natural play motifs; take advantage of this! when structuring your stories and activities.; ▶ Reply to This